Workshop 2 - Leadership and the Local Learning Community (Wednesday 29th July 2009 - Nagambie)

What is leadership?

Leadership domains:
Technical: optimises financial, human and physical resources sound management practices and organisational systems contribute to school goals
Human: foster a safe, purposeful, inclusive learning environment.. constructive respectful relationships
Educational: lead, manage and monitor improvement process... current and critical understanding of the learning process and its implications for enhancing high teaching and learning
Symbolic: model important values and behaviours.. including commintment to professional learning communities
Cultural: understanding of effective schools, capacity to lead community to promote vision of the future

Leadership capabilities:
Technical
Think, plan, and strategically align resources and outcomes
Holds self and others to account

Human
Advocate for students
Develop relationships develop individual and collaborative capacity

Educational
Shape pedagogy
Focus on achievement
Promote inquiry and reflection

Symbolic
Develop and manage self
Align action with shared values
Create and share knowledge

Cultural
Shape the future
Develop unique school culture
Sustains partnerships and networks


How do effective leaders work?
Leadership and Effective Schools Model:
(refer to: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/directions/blueprint1/es/environment.htm )

What would an effective leader be doing in each domain of the effective schools model. Using the Sergiovanni leadership capabilities: Look at the model and find the behaviour and what it looks like and find links between each.

Technique: What is our ideal? – look at everything and then at the end say: How can we now stuff this up? – Name them straight up so they are out on the table and we can deal with them.

To be an effective team we need to be:

  • To be on the same page
  • Good leadership
  • Sharing and valuing ideas
  • Working together
  • Respect and trust
  • Shared vision
  • Individual input
  • Agreed roles
  • Clear goals and targets
  • Agreed team rules – processes and understanding
  • Unconditional positive regard towards all
  • Celebrations
  • Take risks
  • Joy in the work and passion
  • Reflection and evaluation
  • Effective communication
  • Building capabilities
How do they do their work?
  • Building effective teams – (Elmore, Johnson, Sergiovanni)
You need:
1. Clear sense of purpose and vision – each person understands the purpose and makes a commitment to it.
2. Challenging, clear objectives – each person shares the responsibility for achieving the tasks and for striving for continuous improvement
3. Concern for outcomes and performance measures
4. Each person is aware of other people’s potential contribution to achieving the task
5. Each person interacts, gives and receives help, shares ideas and information and encourages each other to accomplish the task.
6. Balance of concern between the task (what we do) and the process (how we do it)
7. High valued placed on each team member – different persons respected for the different contributions they can make to accomplishing the task
8. Supportive informal atmosphere, risks tolerated, diverse viewpoints and styles accepted, team achievements and team learning is continuous
9. Team cohesiveness is achieved without excessive collegiality

PERFORM – consider the outline in your package; reflect on your own team at school. . .
Purpose
Empowerment
Relationships = Communication
Flexibility
Optimal Performance
Recognition and Appreciation
Morale


Power, Authority and Influence
How do we influence people and situations differently? Read and complete handout Power is relevant to leadership
How does power and authority impact on how we behave?
Do leaders have the repertoire of all these powers?
Types of Power:
Referent
Expert
Legitimate
Coercive
Reward

What is ethical leadership?
Thomas J. Sergiovanni
CHEST – Spells out the domains in Sergiovanni – Cultural, Human, Educational, Symbolic, and Technical.

Virtues of Ethical leadership – Virtue – moral excellence on goodness
Hope –positivism
Trust – trust has a two-fold effect 1. Gives others the opportunity to take risks and 2. Makes others accountable for their choices they make.
Piety – bonding
Civility – bridging
Faith - optimism
Passion: Comprising of 6 components -
1. Achievement
2. Care
3. Collaboration
4. Commitment
5. Trust
6. Inclusivity
Community learning: imposed top down or contrived – what structure in your school has been contrived and put on top of you. – and what has begun bubbling up
Implications of leadership:
Connections
Conversations
Collaborations
Capacity Building
Understanding changing forces
Experiential learning
Taking into account human side
This is the heart of Symbolic Leadership.

Characteristics of communities of practice:
  • People creating; generating, sharing ideas, solving problems, - LEARNING – making new knowledge on an ongoing basis
  • People and organisations doing things differently – better: thinking, using, implementing, acting, IMPROVING
  • We see people getting together because they are intellectually curious – innovative professionalism

Instructional leadership – E5 is identifying a common language of community of practice – intellectual curiosity- without judgement and without the fear of failure but more looking at a process of leading to improving and developing better change – Instructional Practice is the E5 model – Your work will be to lead learning communities to talk about the profession.
Influencing tactics in action
How can influencing tactics be (ethically) used to improve community learning.
Look at the 7 Influencing tactics:
1. Rational persuasion
2. Inspiration Appeals
3. Consultation
4. Personal Appeals
5. Ingratiating
6. Pressure – including emotional pressure.
7. Exchange